Police investigating missing Sanborn PTA funds

Palatine police are investigating funds missing from the treasury of a school parent-teacher association in Palatine Township Elementary District 15.

The PTA at Gray M. Sanborn Elementary School, 101 N. Oak St., Palatine, contacted police after the bank that holds the PTA’s account alerted the association of irregularities on Jan. 17, the PTA board said Friday.

The account revealed “a significant depletion in PTA funds,” the board statement read. These funds were used to support students, staff and programming at the school.

The PTA is a 501c3 that maintains its finances separately from the school district.

“We are disheartened to report that, as of right now, some events may have to be put on hold until these funds can be recovered, or until more money is raised as this investigation continues,” the statement said.

The full extent of the damage will be revealed at Tuesday’s PTA board meeting. The treasurer has resigned and been replaced with a former treasurer.

The statement said the PTA is committed to cooperating fully with Palatine police during the investigation. It also plans to pursue “every legal option” to ensure full restitution of funds. It urged any parent, teacher or PTA member who has not been reimbursed or has had a check returned during the school year to reach out to PTA leadership.

In addition, the PTA pledged to strengthen and add additional cash handling policies, create a detailed reporting and review process with multistep approvals to ensure monthly and quarterly reporting is completed on time, prohibit use of credit and debit cards and add policies to track deposits, purchases and sales.

“We are thankful for the hard work of volunteers who are working to diligently ensure our PTA can move forward to achieve our purpose. We are committed to fulfilling our mission to support the staff, students and community for Sanborn and CCSD15,” the PTA said.